Tony Martin of the HTC Highroad team currently lies in seventh place overall in the Tour de France, just 13 seconds off Thor Hushovd's yellow jersey. The German has a top ten goal and he is very pleased how his race went so far. Unlike some of the big favorites he avoided crashes and was able to stay with the leaders on the tough days.
Martin matched the moves by Alberto Contador in this year's race so far. "I can keep up with the best," he said to Radsport News. There hasn't been any long climbs yet, but for the first week, the racing was tough enough. Martin chose to stay close with the favorites. "I wanted to be be in control of the action," he said.
He himself saw no need to attack and gain time. "My only goal is to keep up," he said. While he finished second on the Mont Ventoux in the 2090 Tour de France, it came from a break. Next week, in the Pyrenees, he gets a chance to match the Tour grands in a mano-a-mano. Last year, it didn't work out, but he blamed overtraining and bad planning for his 137th place in Paris. This year, with a restructured preparation, his goal is more ambitious.
So far things have been working out and he puts a lot of hope on the final time trial in Grenoble.It is the exact same 42.5-kilometer course that was used in June's Critérium du Dauphiné. Martin won that race over Bradley Wiggins by 11 seconds. Edvald Boasson Hagen was 43 seconds behind, David Zabriskie 58 seconds. Tour favorite Cadel Evans, who is currently second and 12 seconds ahead of Martin, lost 1'20 to the German in Grenoble. Jurgen van den Broeck was 2'39 slower than the HTC rider.
The other favorites like Alberto Contador, Fränk and Andy Schleck and RadioShack's Andreas Klöden did not ride in the Dauphiné. Martin will have to show that he can keep up in the long climbs in the Pyrenees and especially in the Alps, which are extremely hard this year. Once out of it, he stands a good chance to take a stage win in Grenoble and, if all goes to plan, confirm his top ten ranking.
HTC Highroad has a very good Tour de France thus far. Mark Cavendish has won two stages in a first Tour week that wasn't tailor made for the sprinters. Tejay van Garderen took over the KOM jersey yesterday and was voted the most aggressive rider of the day. The future looks bright for the American squad.